Destiny
by SoHo Chic
Summary: In an attempt to keep Phoebe and him together, Cole visits the three Fates and alters their destiny, creating catastrophic results. (IT's really short & it sucks, so go ahead & R&R already!)


Destiny  
  
  
In the dark cave, three hooded figures worked feverishly at a loom. The shortest one ran fingers over the differently colored strings. The threads were wild, tangling with each other, interlocking, and knotting all over the old loom.   
  
"He's back again," the oldest one rasped.  
  
"We must tie him back. Knot him there, with her life thread," the middle one answered, pulling at a lumpy blue string.  
  
"But their life together is over!" protested the smallest one. Cackles echoed through the cave.  
  
"Ah, young one. Don't worry, we're aware of that. It was she that brought him back, and so there we must knot it. After that, their threads will separate."  
  
The middle one tied a bright red string to the blue one but held it uncertainly afterward. She looked to the oldest crone.  
  
"Still. They were made for each other. It always seems wrong when we separate soulmates. The result is never pretty."  
  
"Ah, but it was not meant to be. Much of the fate of the world depends on this separation. It is destiny," the youngest piped reasonably.  
  
"Do you see, Clotho? It is not your job to decide their destinies, but mine."  
Unseen to them, a tall figure appeared in a darker area of the cave, behind their backs. In his hand, a bright light began to grow. When the light illuminated the entire cave, the three figures turned to him.  
  
"Why do you disturb us now, Cole Turner?" Clotho droned.  
  
"You may have decided people's destinies thousands of years ago, but your job is outdated now," he said coldly. "There is free will. I will not stand back and allow you to separate Phoebe and me!"  
  
In one fluid motion, he tossed the light at the three Fates. Immediately, they were thrown back against a wall of the cave and knocked unconsious. Smiling sinisterly, Cole walked to the loom and fingered the blue thread.  
  
"Now, Phoebe. I will forge our destiny."  
  
With that, he started intwining his red thread with her blue one.  
  
-------------------  
  
Phoebe was shocked when she opened the front door to find Cole. In his hand he held a bouquet of roses that he swiftly presented to her.  
  
"Phoebe. These are, uh, these are for you."  
  
Phoebe smiled radiantly and hugged him.  
  
"Oh, Cole, they're beautiful! What's the occasion?"  
  
Grinning he entered the manor and walked around, feeling strangely comfortable in this environment.  
  
"Oh, I don't know. I thought maybe tonight we could go out. Have a romantic dinner, you know." He winked at her. "Candles. Music. Wine."  
  
She smiled weakly and set the flowers on a table.  
  
"Cole, that sounds great, but I can't. I have a...deadline tonight and I really haven't been working well lately. Sorry."  
  
"Yeah, but I haven't seen you in months, Phoebe."  
  
"Look, Cole. I really need this job and it's important to me--"  
  
"And I'm not?" he interuppted. "Phoebe, I'm your husband."  
Phoebe opened her mouth to argue but changed it into a smile instead. He was right! And she'd been working on that column really hard the last month. She deserved a break, didn't she?  
  
"Well, I guess I can go on with the one I have right now," Phoebe sighed. "Yeah, Cole. Dinner sounds great."  
  
Cole grinned and kissed her briefly before disappearing, leaving Phoebe sighing uncertainly.  
Phoebe quickly rushed to her office to complete her column. A little guiltily, she drove Piper's car without phoning her first. After a near-crash experience last week, there would be no way Piper would let her drive. The entire drive, all she thought of was Cole. He'd reappeared in her life so quickly. All of a sudden he was picking up where they left off with no explanation. . .and she'd just accepted it. What was wrong with her? Hadn't she just told him that their life together was over? Yet she'd suddenly ignored that and accepted his invitation--to a romantic dinner! And neglecting her job at the same time! How was this supposed to work when she'd already informed Missing Persons of his "disappearance?" What if someone were to spot them together?  
  
She'd been so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice the car swerve ahead of her. Instantly she kicked the brake pedal, but to no avail. The two cars collided with huge momentum, throwing Phoebe against the window to her left, breaking the glass and knocking her unconscious.  
  
--------------------  
  
Paige heard the crash in the attic from the kitchen. Slowly she set down her sketchpad and looked upward at the ceiling.  
  
"Phoebe?" she called questioningly. "Are you alright? What's going on up there?"  
When she heard no response, Paige grew worried and ran up the steps to the attic. There was more crashing and the definite sound of breaking china.  
  
When she threw open the attic door, Paige expected to find Phoebe throwing a temper tantrum or maybe lying down against a broken bookshelf of old china. Instead, she saw a large warlock throwing the items in the attic around, digging through drawers and opening trunks.  
  
"Alright witch. Where's the book? Give it to me and I won't have to kill you," he roared.  
  
"Yeah right. Like I'm supposed to believe that," Paige answered, eyeing the rug. A corner of the book was visibly sticking out from under it. The warlock caught her gaze and turned to look at it.  
  
At the same time, both attempted to grab it. The warlock whirled around and ran to that corner of the attic while Paige orbed. Luckily, Paige reached it first and scooped up the book from beneath the dusty rug. Smirking, Paige hugged the book and orbed to P3.  
  
The warlock roared angrily and blinked after her.  
  
------------------  
  
Cole shimmered behind an old building and ran toward the car wreck. Instantly, he spotted Phoebe, who looked unharmed though unconscious. He tenderly lifted her from the broken glass and carried her behind a bush where he shimmered them away.  
  
'Was that supposed to happen?' Cole asked himself, for the first time starting to doubt having messed with their destinies. 'She could have died! What if changing our destinies means that she'll die? How could I ever forgive myself?'  
  
He shook the doubts from his mind as he laid her down on her own bed. For a while, he sat in her  
chair and waited for her to regain consciousness, but soon grew impatient. Quickly, he shimmered to the kitchen and took what he needed. After that, he set two candles on Phoebe's nightstand along with a small plate of cookies and choclates with two glasses of milk. Then, he thrusted the smelling salts under her nose and watched her eyes flicker open.  
  
"Ugh," Phoebe gronaed groggily. She looked around and was confused to find herself lying in her own bed.  
  
"Surprise," said Cole, handing her a cookie and a glass of milk. Phoebe eagerly ate the cookie and drained the glass before settling back against her pillow. Then the memories of the car wreck flashed through her mind and she sat up abruptly.  
  
"Oh my god, Piper is going to KILL me."  
  
"It's alright Phoebe. I'll take care of it," Cole said reassuringly. Phoebe noticed the candles for the first time and clutched her head, groaning.  
  
"Cole, not now. I said we'd go out to dinner later. Right now, Piper's car is more important."  
As if on cue, Piper, Paige, and Leo orbed in just then.  
  
"Phoebe, a warlock attacked and--" Paige stopped mid-sentence to stare in shock at Cole. "COLE? What are you doing here? Aren't you DEAD?"  
  
Piper was more interested in the candles, cookies, and milk.  
  
"We just had a warlock wreck our attic and the two of you are having a ROMANTIC SNACK? What is this? The Ni-"  
  
"It's not what it looks like," Phoebe said defensively. Paige and Piper raised their eyebrows.  
  
"Yes it is," Cole contradicted. Phoebe hit him.  
  
"Look Piper. I kinda...crashed your car."  
  
"What--Oh my god, Phoebe, you did WHAT?? I mean, HOW? How could you crash my car?" Piper yelled.  
  
"Honey, don't overreact," Leo said softly.  
  
"Well, since Leo orbs you all the time, it's not like you really need it or anything, so it's really not that bad..."  
  
"What? It's my CAR. MY CAR!"  
  
"Ok, will everyone CHILL? We have a warlock to vanquish here," Paige said. She shot Cole a look. "YOU are going to have a lot of explaining to do after that."  
  
Paige set the Book of Shadows on Phoebe's bed and flipped it open to a page showing an illustration of a warlock.  
  
"Here's our guy. Garanth: A warlock that has the power of transmogrification and uses it to distract witches while his master murders innocents. He also has the power of astral projection so that he can distract more than one witch at a time. Huh."  
  
"So, what does he want with the Book of Shadows?" asked Phoebe.  
  
"Well, maybe he was distracting us--I mean me," Paige offered.  
  
A new thought struck Phoebe.  
  
"What if...what if we're being distracted right now? I mean, by sitting here and thinking this out, we're not where we should be."  
  
"P3? I'm supposed to be there right now, but why would Garanth attack P3 in the daytime? He could go for a bigger massacre in the evening."  
  
"Lots of people are where Paige works. And at the newspaper," Leo said suddenly. "Phoebe's right. While we're sitting here, a massacre could be going on!"  
  
"Ok. Paige and I are going with Paige. You and Cole go to the newspaper," Piper ordered.  
"Shouldn't we stick together?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Come on people, we're wasting time!" Paige said through her teeth. "Let's MOVE!"  
  
------------------------  
  
Paige, Piper, and Leo orbed into the parking lot.  
  
"Nothing seems wrong," Leo mused.  
  
"Come on. Let's go in," Piper said, dragging them along. They entered through the doors and looked around to see a busy working environment: phones ringing, people typing, and papers shuffling.  
  
"Well, nothing to see here," Paige concluded.  
  
They exited and Leo quickly orbed them to the newspaper.  
  
  
----------------  
  
Phoebe gasped when she saw the building. It was nothing put a pile of ash and charred wood.  
"We're too late!" she whispered to Cole.  
  
"Now, witch. Give us the book and we won't kill any more of you precious innocents," a voice behind them mocked.  
  
Cole and Phoebe turned around to see Garanth and two other warlocks. Each menacingly held a fireball, ready to throw.  
  
Cole answered by forming an energy ball of his own. Phoebe levitated and lashed out her leg, catching one warlock across the face. Cole's energy ball missed Garanth, though. Garanth released a barrage of sparks at Cole, who shimmered, reappearing behind him.   
  
"Hey."  
  
Garanth whirled around to face Cole but noticed Phoebe in a hard fight against the other warlock. Inspiration struck and Garanth threw a fireball at Cole. As Cole ducked to avoid getting hit, Garanth quickly shot a fireball at Phoebe.   
  
When it came in contact with her skin, a scream was ripped from her lungs. Cole whirled around and watched her burst into flames. The entire scene, for him, seemed to take place in slow motion. He ran forward and reached out and arm to her. Just as Phoebe was about to be nothing but a pile of ash, time froze.  
  
Out from behind a frozen Garanth stepped the three Fates.  
  
"Cole Turner," hissed Clotho.  
  
"Do you have any idea what you have just done?" demanded Lachesis.  
  
"I...killed Phoebe," Cole said bitterly.  
  
"Ah. So now he knows," said Atropos, the Fate that appeared to be only nine years old.  
  
"Because you took it into you own hands to try to change what is Fate, instead of living a life together with her, you have killed her," Lachesis said.  
  
"Why?" Cole demanded angrily. "Why can't we be together? You have no right to decide our future."  
  
"So ignorant," murmured Atropos. "Unknowing of all the lives he stopped by that one small act."  
  
"Yes. Because you wanted to be with her, to spend your lives together, others will suffer. It is not meant to be," Clothos told him.  
  
"Some love brings light and hope to the world. They are meant to be together for the good of others," Atropos said softly.  
  
"Your love was strong, that is true. But love can be a poison," Clothos said wisely.  
  
"If the two of you wish to live together in your love, it will poison the world. People will suffer. Lives will end," Lachesis croaked.  
  
"You have witnessed this tonight," Atropos concluded, maturity sounding in her young voice.  
"May this be a lesson to you in the future, Cole Turner. You should never try to change your destiny, for it is inevitable."  
  
"Free will--" Cole started before he saw a blinding light and knew no more.  
  
-------------------------  
  
"The damage is great," Clothos grumbled when the Fates had returned to their lair. Atropos glared at the loom.  
  
"This will take us forever to correct! We must hurry. Time will not stay frozen for long."  
  
Quickly the three scrambled to unpluck the threads and unravel knots. They worked together in understanding silence.  
  
"They will not remember this will they?" asked Astropos.  
  
"Who?" asked Lachesis.  
  
"Why, the world, of course."  
  
"Of course they won't. If we do this right, everything will be as it should."  
  
"How far back should we go?" Clothos asked Lachesis.  
  
"Go back to their knot. Then twine them together once. Yes, my dear. Now lead his thread away," Lachesis said, and she pulled the bright red thread away from Phoebe's blue one, entwining it with a pure white strand higher on the loom.  
  
"Perfect," Atropos concluded, admiring their handiwork. "Now time may flow again and Fate will play through the way it was meant to be."  
  
--------------------------  
  
Phoebe was shocked when she opened the front door to find Cole. In his hand he held a bouquet of roses that he swiftly presented to her.  
  
"Phoebe. These are, uh, these are for you."  
Phoebe stared at them, uncomprehending and unable to speak.  
  
"Cole, I thought we talked about this," Phoebe said at last.  
  
"I know. I know. But I told you I wasn't giving up on us."  
Phoebe sighed and took the flowers.  
  
"Cole, this isn't the way. We can't just...pick up where we left off. Things are different now. We had this talk before, Cole. The two of us...together...we just can't work this out. I'm sorry."  
  
With one final sad, loving look, Phoebe closed the wooden door and turned away without looking back. Cole stared at the closed door and heaved a frustrated sigh.  
  
"I'm never giving up, Phoebe," he whispered before shimmering away.  
  
THE END  
  
Yeah, dumb I know. Extremely cheesy. So sue me. I just had that plotline in my head and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I had to get it off my chest. This is possibly the shortest story I've ever written. Yeah, I know, all of the events went by WAY too quickly and I shoulda paced myself and extended the dialogues, yadda yadda. Well, at least you didn't get bored 'cause you got THIS far!  
Now go read my other stories. They're not as bad as this one, I swear.  
And if you REALLY hated it, go ahead and rewrite it, using my plotline. You have my complete permission. Just tell me so I can read yours! 


End file.
